


No More Mourning

by Tarlan



Category: China Rose (1983)
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-26
Updated: 2006-06-26
Packaged: 2017-10-18 17:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Burt plays a dangerous game in order to save his son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No More Mourning

Burt Allen watched as the casket was loaded onto the airplane, and then he turned back to Rose. It was amazing how quickly they had come to depend upon and need each other. The two months of separation, looming ahead of them, seemed an eternity but he knew it was for the best. She had responsibilities in China that had to be met, which was fortunate in many ways as he had his own set of obligations to fulfill. The hardest part was saying goodbye while keeping the truth from her, but more than her life lay in the balance should the truth come out too soon.

No, it was simpler this way. Better to leave her in ignorance so that she could not fall into unnecessary danger.

He boarded the plane and moved down the aisle, forcing his eyes to remain forward even though every instinct screamed at him to look at the group of men in the back row of seats. His fingers were shaking as he took his seat and buckled in ready for take-off. Although his heart pumped wildly, he kept his face controlled, using every ounce of coldness built up from a lifetime as a rich and influential industrialist.

The engines started and he clenched his teeth as the plane began to edge forward, heading for the runway. It taxied to the edge and halted, the vibrations from the engine thrumming through him, jarring his bones and setting his teeth buzzing inside his head. Imperceptibly, he increased his grip on the armrest, letting go a quiet, yet ragged breath as the plane lurched forward again, quickly picking up speed until he felt that momentarily weightlessness as the wheels left the ground.

He squeezed his eyes closed tight, knowing that he still could not look back along the aisle, and understanding how Orpheus must have felt as he walked back from Hell with only weak faith that his beloved wife, Eurydice, followed. Orpheus's faith had faltered and he turned back to see all his dreams shattered as she was pulled back to Hades but he would not be so weak.

Hours passed like centuries as the plane cruised through high altitudes, heading for home. He ate a little, and tried to sleep but his injuries, sustained when he fought one of Li's men in order to give his son time to escape, throbbed and ached. A pretty oriental stewardess stopped beside him, and he accepted the offer of a painkiller. When he slept, soon after, his dreams were full of shadowy figures reaching out to grab at him as he held his boy in his arms.

The Daniel of his dreams was a child with a shock of blond hair that would darken with the years, and eyes the same soft green as his mother. The child's small hands clutched at his jacket lapel while Daniel buried a soft cheek against his stubble-roughened neck.

Allen awoke with a soft gasp and glanced, bleary eyed, around the compartment. Most of the cabin lights had been dimmed as they crossed from day into night, and he checked his watch, smiling when he realized that he had slept for several hours. He stood up and stretched uneasily before heading forward to the small washroom, easing inside and closing the door behind him. The harsh light came on automatically, and he stared into the large mirror, aghast at his gray complexion and fatigue-seamed face. His hair seemed whiter, as if the past few days had added years to his age. His face was slightly battered from the fight to save his boy, and he sagged against the counter top, squeezing his eyes closed to stop the spill of tears that threatened to fall.

He pushed upright and rubbed a tired hand over his face before using the facilities and washing his hands and face.

Returning to his seat was another study in faith as he refused to allow his eyes to be drawn to the figure huddled in the center seat in the back left row. Instead, he allowed only peripheral vision to ascertain that *someone* was seated there, taking it on faith that it would be the one he needed to be there.

More hours passed, and then the pilot announced that they were on final approach to New York. He straightened in his seat and ensured he was buckled in... and waited.

The plane taxied to the terminus, and he gathered up his hand luggage, following the other passengers down the aisle without allowing his eyes to drift to the most precious seat on the plane. A customs official met him, leading him away to supervise the unloading of the casket, and he watched dispassionately as the hearse drew up. He climbed into the limo that followed behind and they set off on the final leg of this particular journey, heading for the chapel where the casket would remain until placed into the family mausoleum.

Allen followed the casket inside and then bade everyone leave as he came to stand beside the coffin, one hand reaching out to lay on its wooden surface as if trying to caress the face concealed within. He bowed his head and let the tears fall, saying a silent prayer to his recently deceased wife -- the mother of their child.

Then he stood tall and turned away, walking from the chapel without a backward glance. Fear coiled in his belly as he watched the passing streets from the back of the limo; it increased as they turned into the long drive leading up to the house.

Once the door closed behind him, he sagged against it, his eyes drilling into the man standing before him in the entrance hall.

"He's upstairs, sir"

He broke into a grin, with his smile mirroring the one on the man's face and, with renewed vigor, he followed up the stairs swiftly to a room that had lain dormant for more than eighteen years.

Allen reached the bedside in a few strides and he stood for a moment, gazing down at the gaunt face sleeping heavily on the soft pillow. He fell to his knees beside the bed and reached out to trail fingers through the damp strands of golden brown hair, his finger then brushing along a still bristled cheek. Unable to resist, he leaned forward, and placed his own cheek against the sleeper's, feeling the warm, shallow breaths while his hand reached to hold fingers that no longer belonged to a small child... Daniel's fingers.

All the subterfuge of the past days came hurtling back to him as he let go of the last few tears. He had gone to China with no intention of using his position and power on a personal journey to retrieve his son's body but once he discovered Daniel was alive, he had realized that only that influence could save his son. He thought of the price he had paid and then dismissed it as irrelevant compared to what he had gained.

He felt the flicker of eyelashes and pulled back a little, smiling as tired, sick eyes opened weakly to hold his.

"Dad?"

"You're home, Danny. You're home."

Tears filled the soft green eyes and Allen hugged his son harder, crushing the slighter, weaker body against his. Daniel was home, and he sent up a silent prayer to the woman who was his life for more than thirty years, thanking her for watching over Daniel, and for leading him first to Rose and then to the son that she had never ceased to believe dead, even after sixteen years of silence.

"I wish your mom could have seen you one more time in life. She loved you, Danny... and so do I. So do I."

****

Superintendent George stared out across Hong Kong's Aberdeen Harbor and smiled as he thought of the phone call he had just received from the US Consulate. Kornfeld had informed him that the plane had landed in New York two hours ago without a hitch, with Burt Allen playing his role to the letter. By now the father and son would have been reunited and, within a few more days, George would have all of Li's nasty secrets.

After several years of fruitless searching for the mysterious American who ran the heroin export warehouses, George had begun to wonder if they would ever break Li's hold over Hong Kong. Now, all he could think of was all the misery that Daniel Allen's knowledge would bring to an end. If Daniel came through for them, then they could deal a serious blow to heroin production, gun running and the equally disgusting child prostitution rings run by Li's Triad.

It had been a close game though and, at one point, he thought he would lose everything, but then he had received the phone call from Allen and Kornfeld only hours before Li Ling revealed Daniel Allen's whereabouts on-board a junk in Aberdeen Harbor. Through his own sources George knew that Li had started questioning Ho Chin's mother in the belief that she knew where her daughter's young American lover was hiding but, between him, Allen and Kornfeld, they had hatched a plan that would meet all of their needs.

George thought of the henchman who had fired the supposedly fatal shot, knowing that arrangements were already in hand to have this undercover Triad Bureau agent sent as far away as possible, for it would not be long before Li realized that he had another traitor in his midst. The dummy bullet had been dead on target, striking Daniel Allen in the back, and George knew it had been a piece of luck that he had managed to get a message to that operative in time. It was just as lucky that he had been one of the four henchman Li had chosen to take with him, and the one to insist on taking that shot.

George eyed the spot where they had finally turned the tables on Li by using his own trick against him. For sixteen years Li had hidden Daniel Allen's identity by making everyone believe that he had died during the Chinese cultural revolution of 1967. Now it was Li who believed that Daniel was dead, and that his vast sick empire was safe.

Allen had played his part in pretending his son had died in his arms, whispering the plan to his sick boy in the hope that Daniel understood enough to play along. Not leaving too much to chance, George had made certain that it was his agents disguised as ordinary police officers and paramedics who attended the scene.

Once more though, George had to feel respect for the older Allen as he watched the coffin being loaded on-board the plane, and never once giving the game away on the long flight. He knew it had to be hard knowing that his son was sitting only a dozen rows behind him for the entire flight back to the States, sedated for the most part and huddled between two US Consulate officials returning home on diplomatic credentials.

With a satisfied sigh, he turned away and walked slowly back to his car. Within a few days he hoped to start the first crack down operation against Li, using information from Daniel Allen, and if he had his way, that would not stop until Li's sordid empire lay in ruins.

****

 **Epilogue:**

Two months passed far quicker than Allen anticipated, but then he'd had a lot of plans and a lot of catching up to do. He had rarely left Minneapolis since his return from China and Hong Kong, not wanting to leave Daniel's side as his son struggled to regain his health.

Li had addicted Daniel to morphine, a derivative of heroin, following the terrible injuries Daniel received from the Red Guard as he and Li's daughter, Li Ling, fought to get across the border between China and Hong Kong. Unable to accept that his daughter might actually be in love this American, Li had deliberately used Daniel. He had kept him addicted, forcing him to do his bidding to feed that addiction, and making it almost impossible for Daniel to break free from the drug's hold on him until the day he met and fell in love with the daughter of Li Ling's housekeeper.

Ho Chin had given Daniel the strength to fight the drugs, and her own love for him had given her the strength to protect Daniel for as long as she could. Allen knew that, without Ho Chin, Daniel would either still be Li's servant, enslaved to him by the morphine -- or dead. It left Allen with only one course of action but with Daniel's information providing the means for Li's downfall, he had an easy time calling in one more favor from the US government and gained a US passport for Ho Chin. Then he ensured that she would be traveling to the States with Rose.

Their plane landed in New York but, instead of meeting it there, Allen sent a private jet to connect with the flight and bring them to Minneapolis. It was here that he waited in the limo at the small private terminus. He watched as the small jet taxied to the private hangar, waiting until the engines had cut off before getting out of the car. The door opened and, moments later, he saw Rose framed on the threshold. With a grin of sheer pleasure, he stepped forward to greet her at the base of the steps, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her. Then his eyes swept up to the slight oriental girl who followed, and he reached for her, kissing her cheek in welcome before leading both women to the limo.

He saw both women hesitate in turn as they climbed inside, and he closed the door as he took his seat next to the man hiding in the shadows within the darkened limo. The car started to move off straight away.

"Rose, I'd like you to meet someone very special. Daniel... my son."

Daniel leaned forward into the light, his eyes flicking to Rose in greeting for a moment before all his attention focused back on the beautiful, stunned young woman seated next to her.

"Ho Chin?"

With a sudden cry of his name, Ho Chin leapt from her seat and buried herself in Daniel's arms. He kissed her hair, his lips trembling with the sheer joy of being reunited with the woman he loved and thought he had lost. Daniel raised his eyes above the top of her head and smiled, with two soft words falling from him before he closed his eyes and held her tighter.

"Thank you."

Allen laid one hand on his son's shoulder while the other reached for Rose, momentarily dwelling on the leap of faith that had kept all of them from falling, and that had allowed them to find each other. Then for the first time since losing his wife, he knew there was no more need for mourning and he started looking ahead to the future.... and to life.

THE END


End file.
